Alaimo holds the honor of playing the first Romulan seen in the Next Generation era as well as the first Cardassian seen in the Star Trek saga. Nicknamed "The Neck" for his prominent neck muscles, Alaimo influenced makeup supervisor Michael Westmore's design of the Cardassian makeup, as Westmore based the race's neck ridges on Alaimo's physique.

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Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alaimo moved to New York in the early 1970s following stints with the Marquette University Players and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater Company. It was in New York that he acquired his first television role, playing the recurring character of Virgil Paris during the 1972-1973 season of the soap opera Somerset. Alaimo is not the only Star Trek veteran to perform on the soap opera Somerset. Others include Bibi Besch, Nicholas Coster, Bruce Gray, DS9 co-star Barry Jenner, Mark Lenard, Michael Nouri, Percy Rodriguez, and Tucker Smallwood. However, all had either left or were not yet members of the cast during Alaimo's brief tenure.

Alaimo spent the majority of the 1990s focusing on his role as Gul Dukat for Deep Space Nine. He has not appeared in any other live-action TV role since Deep Space Nine ended in 1999; his only television performance since then was the voice of "The Dean of the Secret Order of Dirty Joke Writers" in a 2010 episode of Family Guy, created by Star Trek fan Seth MacFarlane.

In 1980, Alaimo was seen opposite Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn in the romantic comedy Seems Like Old Times. In 1984, he had a role in the cult science fiction classic The Last Starfighter, also featuring Barbara Bosson and Meg Wyllie. And in 1988, he appeared in Clint Eastwood's fifth installment of the "Dirty Harry" film series The Dead Pool, also starring Louis Giambalvo, Ronnie Claire Edwards, and Kristopher Logan.

Alaimo's latest film credit to date was a brief appearance in the 1994 comedy Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. Bill Erwin also appeared in this film. Since then, Alaimo has focused his attention on television (especially on his role as Dukat) and on stage.